‘Give majority to any political party of your
choice’
JK News Today
SRINAGAR, January 8:
Former finance minister Syed Mohammad
Altaf Bukhari on Tuesday seconded the opinion of National Conference vice
president Omar Abdullah who called for a decisive mandate in the upcoming
Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir for return of single party Government
era in the State.
“I personally believe that
Kashmir has suffered a lot because of coalition politics that started since
2002. The results of coming assembly
elections shall have a huge bearing on the stability and all round development
of the State,” Bukhari observed, adding that he leaves it to the conscience of people
to choose and vote for any political party of their choice that can safeguard State’s
socio-political interests and deliver the best.
The former finance minister
observed that coalition politics results in chaotic atmosphere and more often lead
to unstable governments that hugely affects the policy making and decisions of
government and bring a limitation to them.
“It is my personal experience
that coalition government is actually less democratic as the balance of power
is inevitably held by the small parties who can barter their support for
concessions from the main groups within the coalition. This means that a party
with little popular support is able to impose its policies upon the majority by
a process of political blackmail,” he remarked.
Referring to the bitter experiments
of 2002, 2008 and 2015 coalition government formations in Jammu and Kashmir,
Bukhari observed that people of the State suffered immensely due to coalition
compulsions. “Be it PDP-Congress, NC-Congress or PDP-BJP coalition governments,
all these equations undermined accountability as the interests and expectations
of the people and particularly the voters of either of the two coalition partners
were not addressed,” Bukhari opined.
He said the recent political developments
in the State is a manifestation of demerits of a coalition government. “Sometimes an ideological compass is
necessary for governments to navigate in difficult political and economic
waters, and coalitions lack such a unifying philosophy. In addition planning
for the long-term often requires decisions to be made that are unpopular in the
short-term. Coalitions often fail such tests because temporary unpopularity may
encourage one of the parties involved to defect, in search of a populist advantage,”
the former finance minister observed.
He said such a political equation
greatly restricts the ability of governments to deal with major reforms and
means that politicians seldom stay in any political party for long enough to
get to grips with the expectations of his electorate. “At the same time, the squabbling
between political parties that form a coalition government erodes the
confidence of the public in their political system and in their elected
representatives,” Bukhari observed further.
He appealed people of the State
to make their mind for supporting any political party that it deems will usher in
a change and address the socio-political and political aspirations of the
people. “Jammu and Kashmir is passing through a tumultuous political situation.
At this point of time, I appeal the people of all regions and sub regions of
the state to get unified and give decisive mandate to any political party that
can come up to their expectations and deliver on the ground,” Bukhari averred.
